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The Society of Biblical Literature is the oldest and largest international scholarly membership organization in the field of biblical studies. Founded in 1880, the Society has grown to over 8,500 international members including teachers, students, religious leaders and individuals from all walks of life who share a mutual interest in the critical investigation of the Bible.

2014 Annual Meeting

Metaphor Theory and the Hebrew Bible

Program Unit Type: SectionAccepting Papers?Yes

Call For Papers:We are planning three sessions for the meeting in San Diego.
One session will be organized together with the 'Cognitive Linguistics in Biblical Interpretation' and the 'Senses and Culture in the Biblical World' sections around the following theme: "Metaphors of Illness in Biblical Literature." This session will consist of three invited papers (one from each group) and one respondent. The papers will showcase how we read and analyze images of illness and its attendant elements (i.e., pain, isolation, impurity, fear, anguish, etc.) in the Bible. The aim of this joint session is to engage the topic from our different theoretical points of departure in such a way as to invite dialogue with the analytical perspectives of the other panelists. The goal will be a thick description and analysis of how illness is represented and used in biblical literature from multiple complimentary perspectives.
Our second session has an open call for papers on the theme: “Gender and Metaphor.” For this session we welcome papers at the intersection of gender theory and metaphor theory. Important questions to address include when gender is significant when gendered metaphors are used in biblical texts, and how gendered metaphors contribute to the meaning of biblical texts. Papers must incorporate current metaphor theory and gender theory in the interpretation of relevant biblical passages.
Our third session is a workshop for graduate students working on dissertations on metaphors in the Hebrew Bible. The session aims to provide an opportunity for students to showcase their work and receive feedback from more senior scholars in the field as well as from their fellow students. Paper proposals should follow the standard procedure of SBL sessions. Those who are accepted must submit a written presentation by October 1, 2014 and will have 15-20 min in the session for their presentation. The presentations will be followed by planned responses and open discussion.

If you are a SBL member,
you must login before you can propose a paper for this or any other session.
Please login by entering your SBL member number on the left in the Login box.

For all other persons wanting to propose a paper,
you must communicate directly with the chair of the program unit to which you want to propose.
Chairs have the responsibility to make waiver requests, and their email addresses are available above.
SBL provides membership and meeting registration waivers only for scholars who are outside the disciplines
covered by the SBL program, specifically most aspects of archaeological, biblical, religious, and
theological studies.